Are you a decision maker of a new Web application project? Do you want to use one of the two of the hottest Web technologies, Angular 2 or React? Confused? Let's see if I can help.

Pick one! Which one will you choose?

As you can see from both of these cars, you cannot go wrong with one or the other. Some people prefer BMW and some prefer Mercedes. Sometimes its matter of loyalty and brand name. Some times, its the design and color, and sometimes its just the price.

Angular and React are two new web technologies that are on the rise now. Many business owners, technical decision makers, and project managers are having a dilemma about how to choose one over the other.

In this article, I aim to educate decision makers on both Angular 2 and React by comparing them side by side, reading community reactions, and putting some of my personal thoughts behind the decision.

Let’s start with the following table by summarizing various attributes of Angular 2 and React.

Angular 2

React

Developed by

Google

Facebook

Year launched

Oct 2010 (Angular 1.0) Angular 2.2.0 (Nov 2016)

Mar 2013

Modern JavaScript

Yes

Yes

Mature

Yes

Yes

Industry Adoption

Good

Good

Language

TypeScript

JSX

Out-of-box Tools

Great

Ok

Learning Curve

Intermediate

Beginner

Advanced Programming

YES

NO

Performance

Little bit slower but not concerning

Faster

Size

766k

151k

Learning Curve

Programming background

JavaScript background

Native Support

Ionic, NativeScript

React Native

MVC Support

Full support

View only

Rendering

Server side

Server side

Popularity

Let's take a look at Google Trends for various terms related to Angular and React.

As you can see from the above graph, both Angular and React are on the rise. However, Angular has much more popularity compare to React.

OK, here is a data for various regions for these terms. As you can see, some countries has Angular search over React.

History and Development

Angular (previously known as AngularJS or Angular.js) was developed and released by Google in October 2010. It, is a JavaScript based open-source framework for building front-end Web applications.

Let’s take a look at the key features of both technologies as defined on their respective websites.

Angular 2 key features

Develop Across All Platforms

Learn one way to build applications with Angular and reuse your code and abilities to build apps for any deployment target. For web, mobile web, native mobile and native desktop.

Speed & Performance

Achieve the maximum speed possible on the Web Platform today, and take it further, via Web Workers and server-side rendering.

Angular puts you in control over scalability. Meet huge data requirements by building data models on RxJS, Immutable.js, or another push-model.

Incredible Tooling

Build features quickly with simple, declarative templates. Extend the template language with your own components and use a wide array of existing components. Get immediate Angular-specific help and feedback with nearly every IDE and editor. All this comes together so you can focus on building amazing apps rather than trying to make the code work.

Loved by Millions

From prototype through global deployment, Angular delivers the productivity and scalable infrastructure that supports Google's largest applications.

React key features

Declarative

React makes it painless to create interactive UIs. Design simple views for each state in your application, and React will efficiently update and render just the right components when your data changes.

Declarative views make your code more predictable and easier to debug.

Component-Based

Build encapsulated components that manage their own state, then compose them to make complex UIs.

Since component logic is written in JavaScript instead of templates, you can easily pass rich data through your app and keep state out of the DOM.

Learn Once, Write Anywhere

We don't make assumptions about the rest of your technology stack, so you can develop new features in React without rewriting existing code.

React can also render on the server using Node and power mobile apps using React Native.

The Culture and People

Angular is built by a team of engineers who share a passion for making web development feel effortless. We believe that writing beautiful apps should be joyful and fun. We're building a platform for the future.

The two biggest software development corporations, Google and Microsoft, are behind Angular development. Being close to the Microsoft ecosystem, and given the openness of Microsoft, I see more and more involvement of the community folks.

React on the other hand was a Facebook initiative and I’m not sure where Facebook will be when it comes to software development. Facebook is not a software development company. Can React survive without support of corporations other than Facebook?

Salary

Native Support

Both, Angular 2 and React support native mobile development.

Ionic Framework and NativeScript

Iconic Framework and NativeScript are two frameworks to support native development using Angular 2.

Ionic is a complete open-source SDK for hybrid mobile app development. Built on top of AngularJS and Apache Cordova, Ionic provides tools and services for developing hybrid mobile apps using Web technologies like CSS, HTML5, and Sass. Apps can be built with these Web technologies and then distributed through native app stores to be installed on devices by leveraging Cordova.

NativeScript is how you build cross-platform, native iOS, and Android apps without web views. Use Angular, TypeScript, or modern JavaScript to get truly native UI and performance while sharing skills and code with the web. Get 100% access to native APIs via JavaScript and reuse of packages from npm, CocoaPods, and Gradle. It is open source and backed by Telerik.

React Native

React Native is the library used to build React-based native apps using only JavaScript. It uses the same design as React, letting you compose a rich mobile UI from declarative components. With React Native, you don't build a “mobile web app”, an “HTML5 app”, or a “hybrid app”. You build a real mobile app that's indistinguishable from an app built using Objective-C or Java. React Native uses the same fundamental UI building blocks as regular iOS and Android apps. You just put those building blocks together using JavaScript and React.

The Team Factor

One of the important factors that plays a vital role in choosing between Angular 2 or React is your team.

If you’re a Microsoft or Google shop and have a good background in object-oriented and other programming languages, and you’re familiar with MVC, you should go with Angular 2.

If you love just JavaScript and do not like to learn complex programming architecture like MVC, React is probably for you.

Personal Recommendation

I am not a JavaScript developer. My background is building large-scale enterprise systems using “real” software platforms. I started in 1997 building applications using C, C++, Pascal, Ada, and Fortran. The I moved to VB, VC++, MFC, ATL, COM, and DCOM. Later my programming path followed C#, .NET, Windows Forms, WPF, and now UWP. I can clearly say that JavaScript is just gibberish to me. Being a Microsoft MVP and expert, I have a good understanding of TypeScript.

I also don’t see Facebook as a software development company. However, Google and Microsoft are already the largest software innovators. I feel more comfortable working with a product that has strong backing from Google and Microsoft. Also TypeScript being Microsoft’s open-source initiative and with my background, I know Microsoft has even bigger plans for TypeScript.

Now, with TypeScript in the picture and .NET Core being open-sourced, I see an active role of Microsoft and the community in the development of the newer versions of Angular. I also see Microsoft’s Visual Studio development tool supports Angular as well. This is huge for Microsoft developers.

Community Reactions

Let’s look at what experts are saying about these two technologies. Obviously, some of these reactions are influenced by their personal interest and background.

“For those who prefer to code in plain old JavaScript, React may peak your interest a bit more but for those who want a more mature and complete solution, Angular2 may be your best bet as it has learned from Angular1 and React.”

Angular and React are two different worlds and there can be no direct comparison and winner among the two. As mentioned at the beginning, these are just common parameters among the two and not a direct comparison.

React can be a better choice if you need more flexibility in the architecture of your code.

Angular can be a better choice if you choose to adopt an architecture for the whole front end of your application.

“Angular 2 is very close to being a fully-fledged framework - it comes with many building blocks out of the box that cover most of the common scenarios in developing a web application.”

“React is far less rigid than Angular 2. It is a library that provides the most basic tools for building a web applications - a HTTP service and Components. There is no built-in router or anything that sets a particular convention.”

“The choice between Angular 2 and React comes down to a style preference. React, as a library focused on speed of rendering, is a useful tool for handling large and complex UI presentations in your client or native applications. Angular 2, on the other hand, takes a much broader view of the development process. As an opinionated framework, it’s looking to guide the way in which you build your apps, while also allowing you to create expressive and reusable UI experiences.”

The Verdict

If you plan to pick between Angular 2 and React for your next application, here is the good news. Angular 2 and React are both mature technologies. You cannot go wrong with one or the other.

The deal breaker is your expertise and your preference. What it all comes down to is, what you’re more comfortable with.

If you’re building a large scalable web application and looking beyond a few years, Angular 2 is a better choice with the obvious reason of Google and Microsoft being behind this product.

If you’re not a TypeScript kind of guy and just want to stick with your JavaScript, then React may be your choice.

Update 1/7/2018

Here are some recent updates. According to npm, React is growing at a much faster pace than other JavaScript frameworks. The following chart shows the trends by npm for React, Preach, Vue, Ember, Angular, and Backbone.